In fourteen sublime stories, the bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Known World shows that his grasp of the human condition is firmer than ever.

Returning to the city that inspired his first prizewinning book, Lost in the City, Jones has filled this new collection with people who call Washington, D.C., home. Yet it is not the city's power brokers that most concern him but rather its ordinary citizens. All Aunt Hagar's Children turns an unflinching eye to the men, women, and children caught between the old ways of the South and the temptations that await them in the city, people who in Jones's masterful hands, emerge as fully human and morally complex, whether they are country folk used to getting up with the chickens or people with centuries of education behind them. With the legacy of slavery just a stone's throw behind them and the future uncertain, Jones's cornucopia of characters will haunt readers for years to come.

Quotes & Awards

“Manages to stun on every page; there are too many breathtaking lines to count.”

Dave Eggers, New York Times bestselling author

“Now there can be no doubt about it: Edward P. Jones belongs in the first rank of American letters.”

Washington Post

“Muscular…Jones weaves together three plotlines, a handful of backstories, a dozen characters, and a portrait of a young man on the brink of maturity. It’s more than you get from most novels.”

Entertainment Weekly

“Jones shows moments of great folly, moments of great decency and plenty of scramble-toned moments in between, in a big, roomy book packed with vivid samplings of human tragedy and comedy.”

Seattle Times

“A complex, something somber collection…Often, Jones presents characters who have been away from the South long enough to mourn the loss of values and connections they traded for the too-often failed promise of urban success, but he also portrays the nation’s capital as a place of potential redemption, where small curses and small miracles intertwine, and where shifting communities and connections can literally save one’s life.”

Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Peter Francis James’ melodious baritone is beautifully suited to this fine collection…James speaks with a warmth and rhythm that invite listeners to settle back and listen. His pacing, particularly his use of telling pauses, is adept. And he shades characters with just enough personality to color the already-vivid scenes.”

AudioFile

“Jones’ stories are rich in detail and emotions as he plumbs the intricacies of people’s relationships with one another and with spiritual forces at work in urban as well as natural environments.”

Booklist

“Wielding with enviable precision the elegant, plain style that so distinguished his earlier stories…Jones’ engrossing, exquisitely crafted and unforgettable stories offer images of the African-American experience that are unparalleled in American fiction.”

Kirkus Reviews

A 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist

Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award

A New York Times Bestseller

One of the 2006 New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books for Fiction

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